By Tiernan Ray

In the wake of Nokia‘s (NOK) announcement this morning that it will sell its handset division to Microsoft (MSFT) for $7.2 billion, Wells Fargo‘s Maynard Um, who follows Nokia and Apple (AAPL), this morning wonders if the deal may nudge Apple to do more in the television market given what Microsoft may do with its Xbox home gaming line.

Writes Um, who has a Market Perform rating on Nokia, and an Outperform rating on Apple, writes,

While we don’t see any near-/medium-term impact to Apple, we think the potential for MSFT to integrate its Xbox content and platform with its smartphones should light a fire under Apple to accelerate its TV strategy before MSFT can better integrate its Xbox platform. We believe AAPL ($494.94, Outperform) is still in a better starting position with its broader ecosystem (ex TV) and market share.

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There are 2 comments

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 2:13 P.M.

boughtat32 wrote:

Apple should buy the rest of Nokia, the part with the patents and mapping.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 5:12 P.M.

Market Mayhem wrote:

"boughtat32 wrote:
Apple should buy the rest of Nokia, the part with the patents and mapping."
Yes, Apple should do that but it won't. Apple would rather continue to squirrel away money to add to the growing reserve cash pile and get the least value for Apple shareholders. Besides, Apple seems pretty serious about Apple Maps and with a decent staff and crowd-sourcing turn it into a mapping service at least close to Google's. I'm always for Apple buying patents just to stop rivals from getting them but that's not Apple's way of doing things.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.